Online Voting System ProjectApplication · Projectworlds

CVE-2023-48434

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-12-20
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Online Voting System Project v1.0 is vulnerable to multiple Unauthenticated SQL Injection vulnerabilities. The 'username' parameter of the reg_action.php resource does not validate the characters received and they are sent unfiltered to the database.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

Online Voting System v1.0 contains an unauthenticated SQL injection vulnerability in the username parameter of reg_action.php. The application fails to validate or sanitize user input before embedding it directly into SQL queries, allowing attackers to manipulate query logic and potentially extract, modify, or delete database contents.

MitigationReplace dynamic SQL queries with parameterized queries/prepared statements in reg_action.php and all other affected files to ensure user input is treated as data rather than executable code.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Online Voting System ProjectApplication
Affected:= 1.0

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify the installed application
    Locate and examine the application's source files or banner/version information to confirm it is Projectworlds Online Voting System version 1.0
    Affected if The application is Projectworlds Online Voting System version 1.0 and the source files are present
  2. Locate reg_action.php
    Search the web root directory for the file reg_action.php - this is typically found in the admin or registration-related folder of the Online Voting System
    Affected if The file reg_action.php exists in the application directory
  3. Verify vulnerable code pattern in reg_action.php
    Open reg_action.php and examine the PHP code around the username parameter handling. Look for SQL queries that directly concatenate or embed the username parameter without using prepared statements or parameterized queries
    Affected if The code shows direct embedding of the username parameter into SQL queries (e.g., "SELECT * FROM users WHERE username='" . $_POST['username'] . "'") without input sanitization or prepared statements
  4. Confirm unauthenticated access is possible
    Verify that reg_action.php is accessible without authentication - check if the endpoint can be reached directly via HTTP/HTTPS without login credentials
    Affected if The reg_action.php endpoint is reachable without any authentication requirement
  5. Test username parameter for SQL injection behavior
    If authorized and within scope, send a crafted username value containing SQL meta-characters (e.g., username with a single quote ') to reg_action.php and observe the application's response for SQL syntax errors or unexpected behavior
    Affected if The application returns database error messages or exhibits unexpected behavior when special SQL characters are submitted in the username parameter

You are affected if you are running Projectworlds Online Voting System version 1.0 and the reg_action.php file contains direct SQL query construction with the username parameter without prepared statements or input sanitization.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Replace dynamic SQL queries with parameterized queries/prepared statements in reg_action.php and all other affected files to ensure user input is treated as data rather than executable code.

Fix this in Online Voting System Project Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,200
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Scan for this in your stack

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2023-48434 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data